Hi,

Last year Culinary Historians hosted Christy Rost who lives in Colorado and Texas.

She brought Anasazi beans from Adobe Milling of Dove Creek, Colorado, 1-800-542-3623. www.AnasaziBeans.com

According to the package:

Anasazi beans were one of the few crops cultivated by the Anasazi Indians. Anasazi (ahn-a-sa-zee) is a Navajo word meaning "ancient ones." The Anasazi Indians are best identified for their architectual achievements known today as cliff dwellings and inhabited these structures as early as 130 AD. Today these structures can be seen of areas such as Masa Verde National Park, located in southwestern Colorado.

These were excellent beans and indeed cooked fairly readily.

Regards,
Cathy2

James Hamblin at TheAtlantic.com wrote:Recently [Helen] Harwatt and a team of scientists from Oregon State University, Bard College, and Loma Linda University calculated just what would happen if every American made one dietary change: substituting beans for beef.

If Everyone Ate Beans Instead of Beef

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Don't forget the Big Handsome Johnny Beans! Every well-curated collection of artisinal legumes must include a bag or two.



Find 'em at Polish markets.

I've never bought any from him, but I know that Henry Brockman that comes to the Evanston farmer's market, raises some dried heirloom beans that he sells at the market. It might be in August when he sells them. He only has two or three varieties he sells. If you have the space you can also raise your own. I don't cook a lot of dried beans except for lentils and split peas. I go the lazy route, and mostly use canned beans. Hope this helps, Nancy

Cooked up a batch of RG black eyed peas for New Year's Day today, and they are delicious. Absolutely worth the work and price.

There's a very informative and well-written piece about RG's role in boosting the humble bean, posted at the New Yorker's website . . .

at NewYorker.com, Burkhard Bilger wrote:I thought about that meal last spring, when I first met Steve Sando. We were standing at a table heaped with hibiscus flowers, at an outdoor market in the town of Ixmiquilpan, three hours north of Mexico City in the state of Hidalgo. It was a Thursday morning in May, and the stalls were full of women gossiping and picking through produce: corn fungus and cactus paddles, purslane and pickling lime, agave buds and papalo leaf that smelled of mint and gasoline. Sando, who is fifty-eight, ambled among them in a white guayabera shirt, untucked at the waist. He had on loose jeans, tennis shoes, and a bright-red baseball cap that said “Rancho Gordo” above the bill. He could hardly have looked more American, yet he fit in perfectly somehow. He was built like a giant bean.

That may seem too easy, beans being Sando’s business. But people are often shaped by their obsessions, and in Sando’s case the similarities are hard to miss. His body is mostly torso, his skin both ruddy and tanned, like a pinto. He makes a colorful first impression, gets a little starchy if you crowd him, then slowly softens up. Fifteen years ago, when Sando founded Rancho Gordo, he had no food-retailing or farming experience. Now he’s the country’s largest retailer of heirloom beans and a minor celebrity in the culinary world. He’s a side dish who’s become a staple.

The Hunt for Mexico’s Heirloom Beans

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Proprietor Steve Sando sent out a thoughtful email missive earlier today that I thought applied to many of us here . . .

in an email, Steve Sando wrote:You may not realize it but as time marches on, we home cooks are becoming rarer and rarer. The fact that we get excited about a new bean, a cooking pot, or even a new wooden spoon, puts us in the minority. Most of us think of cooking as fun and a great way to bring people we care about together. We see a pound of beans and we imagine how we’ll be cooking them, how we’ll be serving them, and maybe the smiling faces that will be eating them. I have a constant vision of leaving the kitchen and walking towards the dining room table with a huge pot of something good between my hands as I ask for help finding a trivet. This is possibly my favorite moment of the day. I try and do it most nights.

A Rant: We Are Not Normal

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I know that we home cooks are a dying breed, but I also feel like the resources for those of us deep into the hobby (can I call it that now?) dwarf those available at any previous point in history. I can source even exotic Asian ingredients readily. There are so many internet resources for scientific cooking and every ethnic cuisine you could possibly want to eat. The tools available to us are state-of-the-art. I use commercial ice cream stabilizers to make great textured ice cream with clean flavors, a sous vide machine to make perfectly poached chicken breast and a pressure cooker to churn out great stocks in record time. Of all the times for home cooking to die, it shouldn't be now!

botd wrote:I know that we home cooks are a dying breed, but I also feel like the resources for those of us deep into the hobby (can I call it that now?) dwarf those available at any previous point in history. I can source even exotic Asian ingredients readily. There are so many internet resources for scientific cooking and every ethnic cuisine you could possibly want to eat. The tools available to us are state-of-the-art. I use commercial ice cream stabilizers to make great textured ice cream with clean flavors, a sous vide machine to make perfectly poached chicken breast and a pressure cooker to churn out great stocks in record time. Of all the times for home cooking to die, it shouldn't be now!

Well, is there ever really a good time for that? The death of home cooking will always be a brutally depressing prospect.

I agree with you about the breadth, depth and ease of availability we home cooks enjoy when it comes to ingredients, supplies and culinary tools. If there's a negative, it's mainly my guilt when I take the online route by default rather than seeking a local source. But especially in cases when I have some lead time, ordering online leaves so much time for other tasks and responsibilities, it's often hard to resist.

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This is getting off the topic of beans, of course, but I find a set of leftovers / stocking up in the fridge is a recipe (heh) for waste: we just don't want to riff on the same set of ingredients several times in the same week.

But the freezer is our larder for that: any large roasted/smoked/braised meat gets packed into two-serving vacuum aliquots. Veggies less often, and I need to remember to save more of the stock/soup/sauce things in smaller containers.

But right now, I have a fridge containing stable items such as nam prik pao, pickled red onions, home-fermented ghost chile hot sauce, and a few other things -- some of which may have gone way past peak.

But I don't see home cooking failing. Yes I have friends who do mealpacks, but they're doing it as novelty, learning new dishes where they wouldn't have been that adventurous. My sons and their wives cook much more frequently than eating out, and they're stealing whole holidays from me now that they have their own place.

Good Eats is coming back. Molto Mario was going to but for a clog-wearing troglodyte's behavior. Scripps Networks ought to renegotiate where its channels appear -- Cooking Network seems to always be on more premium packages and not the base, and it's a shame.

ronnie_suburban wrote:my SOP with the RG beans

Do you discard the veg after cooking or does it retain some flavor?

Bok Choy Jr wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:my SOP with the RG beans

Do you discard the veg after cooking or does it retain some flavor?

I never discard them. They just become part of the pot liquor.

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I learned of this bean club here back in 2016, tried to join and it was sold out at the time.
This just in:

HOORAY!
The Rancho Gordo Bean Club is now Back In Stock.

BUY NOW
Dear Customer,
You asked us to email you when The Rancho Gordo Bean Club is available in stock. We are pleased to inform you that it has arrived!

But please complete your purchase as soon as possible. There is a limited quantity available.

https://www.ranchogordo.com/products/the-rancho-gordo-bean-club

janeyb wrote:I learned of this bean club here back in 2016, tried to join and it was sold out at the time.
This just in:

HOORAY!
The Rancho Gordo Bean Club is now Back In Stock.

BUY NOW
Dear Customer,
You asked us to email you when The Rancho Gordo Bean Club is available in stock. We are pleased to inform you that it has arrived!

But please complete your purchase as soon as possible. There is a limited quantity available.

https://www.ranchogordo.com/products/the-rancho-gordo-bean-club

I think you're going to be very happy. As much as I have enjoyed placing orders with RG for known items (which I do a lot because I can't help myself), twice recently I cooked varieties of RG beans that I may not have tried otherwise. Because they were included in the Bean Club shipment, I had the opportunity to check them out. Both were outstanding.

The Flor De Junio were smallish, white beans with a relatively firm skin that didn't break up much during the cooking (or subsequent re-heatings), which left the pot liquor relatively clean and clear. The Mogette De Vendee' were larger white beans with skins that were less firm. Their interiors were more tender and soft, and they broke up a bit during the initial cook, producing an absolutely delectable pot liquor that was so good, the entire pot could have have been eaten as a soup, even though I cooked it vegan (as I usually do).

I've also received some cool non-bean items in my Bean Club shipments (1 per), including hominy, lentils, Mexican oregano and wild cumin. All of them have been terrific. Again, many items that I may not have tried otherwise.

The main benefit of the club is that with a variety of outstanding beans consistently coming my way, I'm upping my game by cooking about a pot a week, learning a few ins and outs, identifying favorite varieties and enjoying all the different outcomes.

I'm eating them at all times of day and have especially enjoyed them at breakfast. I typically heat up a bowl and mix in some sambal or other hot sauce and then top them with a couple of over-easy eggs and some grated cotija or other cheese. This is eaten with a spoon. They're also great a side dish or pre-cooked and used in a cold bean salad or even mixed with leftovers as the basis of a casserole or . . . you get the idea.

And when I have extra beans that I can't cook (or just want to turn some inventory), I have some friends that love receiving a bag or two to cook themselves.

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This week's bean cook was another variety that was included in my one of my Bean Club shipments: San Franciscano. They're on the smaller side (slightly smaller than typical black beans), with a mahogany hue. Once cooked, they shimmer in the pot. The skins are relatively firm but the innards are creamy and they cook up pretty intact. As such, they produce a thinner (still flavorful) pot liquor that mirrors the reddish color of the beans before cooking.

Flavor-wise, they're less neutral than some of the other varieties I've cooked lately, with more pronounced earthy and herbaceous notes. I also made a small batch of vegetable soup with them (already cooked + some pot liquor and some stuff from our CSA box) that turned out great. They've also been satisfying for breakfast, under a couple of over-easy eggs and topped with some grated cotija (a regular ritual/addiction I described above).

Rancho Gordo beans - count me a fan!

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Found a bag of Santa Maria Pinquitos that we forgot about. We've made this bean before and really liked them.

It mentioned on the RG label they were great in chili. We usually use more than one bean variety in chili, but didn't yesterday and Steve was correct, they were AWESOME in chili, really held up and stayed firm and meaty.

I missed the last bean club opening that janeyb alerted us to, it filled up quickly. Entered to receive an email the next time there is an opening.

Al Ehrhardt wrote:Found a bag of Santa Maria Pinquitos that we forgot about. We've made this bean before and really liked them.

Me too. They're excellent. I typically include them in my non-Bean Club orders.

This week's bean cook . . .


Alubia Blanca

These are relatively quick-cooking beans that have a soft, velvety, homogeneous texture yet stay very nicely intact. Flavor-wise, I'd describe them as buttery and mildly bitter.

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FYI after having registered to be notified when the Rancho Gordo Bean Club reopened for new subscribers this morning I received an email. I went and subscribed. So for anyone that may have been interested but hadn't signed up for their list you may still be able to go and sign up.

I also received an email on Monday that the bean club was open and I quickly registered. Looking forward to it.

Already on our second holiday gift shipment after forgetting some people on the first order. Free shipping with a $50 order. A nice way to introduce people to a great vendor they aren't aware of.

Help please!!
I'm just finishing cooking my first batch of Rancho Gordo beans. I went ahead and cooked the whole bag and am using some in a recipe for dinner tonight. However, the remaining beans are to be used in salads and soups later this week. How should I store the cooked beans - in their cooking liquid or drained?

Thanks so much for your help!

TSmitty wrote:Help please!!
I'm just finishing cooking my first batch of Rancho Gordo beans. I went ahead and cooked the whole bag and am using some in a recipe for dinner tonight. However, the remaining beans are to be used in salads and soups later this week. How should I store the cooked beans - in their cooking liquid or drained?

Thanks so much for your help!

I always store them in the pot liquor and drain them if necessary/desired for other applications.

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ronnie_suburban wrote:

TSmitty wrote:Help please!!
I'm just finishing cooking my first batch of Rancho Gordo beans. I went ahead and cooked the whole bag and am using some in a recipe for dinner tonight. However, the remaining beans are to be used in salads and soups later this week. How should I store the cooked beans - in their cooking liquid or drained?

Thanks so much for your help!

I always store them in the pot liquor and drain them if necessary/desired for other applications.

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Thank you!!

ronnie_suburban wrote:I always store them in the pot liquor and drain them if necessary/desired for other applications.

I do this usually as well. Though sometimes I just toss them in a little olive oil and salt, rather than the pot liquor, esp if they are ultimately going to be tossed with oil.

Other than storing the beans in it, do you use the pot liquor for anything?

I love everything about my Rancho Gordo bean shipments, including the packaging.

I made then in my instant pot. I think I cooked them too long, but they were still great. For the IP, does the time vary per type of bean? If not, how many minutes do you cook? The liquor looked beautiful; rich, dark and creamy. ( I added bay leaves, onion, celery, and a few other things.)

I tossed the liquor out, but as I read the above posts, I wondered if any of you use it for anything, such a soup base.
Thanks for your ideas.

I use the pit liquor to serve the beans in, as a soup base, in cooking other things, or sometimes just to drink warm it by itself. Use it any way you’d use chicken, beef, or vegetable stock.

Yes, different beans can have different cooking times, and cook time also varies by whether you prefer-soaked the beans. I usually don’t pre-soak and then set the instant pot for 30-35 min, unless they say a particular bean cooks faster or slower. If underdone, seal it back up and cook another 5-10 minutes.

I always save the liquor because if I take good care in cooking the beans, the liquor is delicious. Even if I don't eat it with the beans, I'll eat it alone or with something else.

And yes, there are several factors that affect cooking time. Generally speaking, with Rancho Gordo, all the beans in the bag are the same age, so at least in-batch variability is a non-factor. But soaking/not-soaking, bean size and variety can all affect cooking time, and the factors that affect cooking time are surely not limited to just those. It really comes down to trial and error. Eventually, you'll get a sense for how long certain varieties of beans take for any cooking method you use regularly.

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I was recently gifted with two bags of Rancho Gordo beans. Ayocoto Blanco and Alubia Blanca. I've already read through this thread for tips and will peruse their website for recipes. I am a low-tech cook so these will be done in a pot on the stove. Maybe someday I'll get an Instapot.

The GP wrote:I was recently gifted with two bags of Rancho Gordo beans. Ayocoto Blanco and Alubia Blanca. I've already read through this thread for tips and will peruse their website for recipes. I am a low-tech cook so these will be done in a pot on the stove. Maybe someday I'll get an Instapot.

Unless you're in a tremendous hurry (and you didn't have time to soak), there's very little advantage with the IP. I almost never use mine for beans anymore. A regular old pot on the stove works just fine, probably better, in fact.

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I think it's been mentioned here before but there is an active Bean Club Facebook Group. Someone has shared a time guideline for Instapot/Pressure Cooker times.

I often soak and pour off excess soaking water and then use it for cooking in my pressure cooker. I find if I cook with fresh water as is often directed, the resulting pot liquor needs salt. So I cut out the middleman. I typically save this and, as Darren suggests, use it as stock (often in finishing the beans, but also for other uses). I add carrots, celery, onions, garlic, and bay to the cooking beans so it actually is a vegetable stock.